To keep pace with global demand, seed companies moved their hybrid research to Puerto Rico’s south coast. The result: more yield in the Midwest, a growing rift over land and labor, and questions about who benefits when agricultural research leaves the island.
In late July 2019, a group of migrant farmworkers from south Texas was working in a cornfield in DeWitt County, Ill., when suddenly a crop duster flew overhead, spraying them with pesticides. Panicked, the crew, which included teenagers and a pregnant woman, ran off the field with clothes doused in
Corteva Agriscience – the main manufacturer of chlorpyrifos, a pesticide that has been linked to brain damage in children – said it would stop its production by the end of this year.
Borden Dairy Co., one of America's oldest and largest dairy companies, on Monday became the second major milk producer to file for bankruptcy in the last two months. ?
